agenda finance committee wednesday, 23 september...

AGENDA

FINANCE COMMITTEE

WEDNESDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 2009

Notice is given that the next Finance Committee Meeting of the Roper Gulf Shire Council will be held on:

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 at The 29 Crawford St Commencing at 8.30am

Your attendance at the meeting will be appreciated. Michael Berto CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

FINANCE COMMITTEE 23 SEPTEMBER 2009

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ITEM SUBJECT PAGE NO

1 PRESENT/STAFF/GUESTS

2 MEETING OPENED

3 WELCOME TO COUNTRY

4 APOLOGIES AND LEAVE OF ABSENCE

5 DISCLOSURE OF INTEREST

6 INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE

Nil

7 OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE

7.1 Outgoing Correspondence ............................................................................................... 4

8 BUSINESS ARISING

Nil

9 FINANCE REPORTS

9.1 2009-2010 Capital Expenditure Budget ......................................................................... 10 9.2 Financial Reports for August 2009 ................................................................................. 12

10 GOVERNANCE REPORTS

10.1 Annual Report................................................................................................................. 34

11 FUNDING AGREEMENTS

11.1 Funding Agreements for Signature ................................................................................ 37 11.2 Property and Tenancy Management July to Sept 09

Community Infrastructure Variation................................................................................ 38

12 GENERAL BUSINESS

Nil

13 QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC

14 CLOSE OF MEETING

Finance Committee 23 September 2009

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OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE

ITEM NUMBER 7.1

TITLE Outgoing Correspondence

REFERENCE \CORE SERVICES\GOVERNANCE\COUNCIL MEETINGS\2009 - 08 - COUNCIL MEETING - 21 OCTOBER\REPORTS - 111848

AUTHOR Vanessa Lamb, Executive Assistant and Governance Support Officer RECOMMENDATION (a) That Council notes the outgoing correspondence.

<<Enter Text>>

ATTACHMENTS: 1 Letter to Karina Hart 280809.doc 2 Councillor Lansen re return of laptop Sep 09.doc 3 RGSC letter to Menzies re drinking camps research.doc

Attachment 1

Letter to Karina Hart 280809.doc

Attachment 1

Postal Address: GPO Box 1321 Katherine NT 0850

Tel: 08 8972 9000 Fax: 08 8972 3714

28 August 2009

Karina Hart Borroloola Post Office Borroloola NT 0854 Dear Karina, Re: Letter dated 05 August 09 Firstly I would like to thank you for your letter tabled at the Council Meeting held in Borroloola on 19 August 09. We have located the original letter you sent to us on 11 August 09, which I’m sorry to say did not make the agenda due to the closing date of 31 Jul 09. The letter was placed in Mayor Jack’s incoming mail for his consideration which was not sighted before the meeting. The newsletters are still being produced and can be found in the Service Delivery Centres throughout the Shire, we will endeavour to disseminate these as widely as possible in the future. Local board meetings are being held in Borroloola and the public are very welcome to attend these meetings for information sharing and public concerns. If the timings of the meetings do not suit please contact either Neil Pickett or one of your Councillors to see if times can be arranged to suit the majority of attendees. The Minutes from Meetings are accessible on our website www.ropergulf.nt.gov.au if you are unable to access a computer, hard copies of minutes can also be obtained from our Service Delivery Centre in Borroloola, again please contact Neil or Marissa at the office and they will be happy to forward a hard copy to anyone that requests them. We understand that information is not always passed on in a timely manner and will ensure that notices are placed on notice boards as soon as possible to notify the public of upcoming meetings and visitors to the town. Sometimes outside agencies do make visits which we are not always aware of and this is sometimes a last minute decision which is out of our control, but we hope to have as many notices placed around the town to ensure the wider public is aware of important information. Roper Gulf Shire Council is still in its infancy and there is a lot to be done to improve communication and services throughout the whole of the Shire, we are all working hard to ensure these problems will be rectified and hope that the few problems you have encountered will be corrected for the near future. Yours sincerely,

Michael Berto Chief Executive Officer Roper Gulf Shire Council

Attachment 1

Letter to Karina Hart 280809.doc

Attachment 1

Attachment 2

Councillor Lansen re return of laptop Sep 09.doc

Attachment 2

Postal Address: GPO Box 1321 Katherine NT 0850 ABN: 94746956090 Tel: 08 8972 9000 Fax: 08 8972 3714

Jacob Lansen CMB 6 Ngukurr Via Katherine NT 0852 Dear Mr Lansen Roper Gulf Shire provided you with a laptop and a modem in January 2009 to support you in your work as a Councillor for Yugul Mangi Ward. You resigned from Council from 1 June 2009. Since then, you have been asked several times to return this equipment but you have failed to do so. This puts you in breach of both the Code of Conduct you agreed to uphold as a Councillor and the Criminal Code Act of the Northern Territory. At the Roper Gulf Shire Council meeting held on 19 August 2009 it was resolved that the Shire forward you an invoice for the cost of the laptop and modem and give you the choice of paying for them or returning them in good condition. Therefore you must either:

1. return the laptop, modem and all related accessories to the Shire Services Manager at Ngukurr or to the Shire Head quarters in Katherine, or

2. pay the invoice in full by the end of September 2009.

If you do not comply with one of these options, the Shire will hand the matter over to the legal authorities. Yours sincerely

Michael Berto Chief Executive Officer 3 Sept 09

Attachment 2

Councillor Lansen re return of laptop Sep 09.doc

Attachment 2

Attachment 3 RGSC letter to Menzies re drinking camps research.doc

Attachment 3

Dr Kate Senior Head – Substance Abuse Research Menzies School of Health Research PO Box 41096 Casuarina NT 0811 Dear Dr Senior, This is to notify you that at the ordinary Roper Gulf Shire Council meeting of 19 August 2009 the following resolution was passed: 4/09 RESOLVED (David Lane/Andrea Andrews) Carried (a) That Council supports the Drinking Camp Research by sending a letter of

support to Menzies School of Health Research and requests that the information is sent back to Roper Gulf Shire for use within the Shire.

It is assumed that:

Ethics Committee clearance, if relevant, has been gained Menzies School of Health Research has obtained appropriate permits from Northern

Land Council, and that consultation has already been carried out with Sunrise Health Service since they

provide health services to Barunga, Wugularr, Manyallaluk and Jilkminggan. For communication and liaison with Roper Gulf Shire, please use Governance Manager Moira McCreesh as your first point of contact. We look forward to hearing about the results of your research and hope that it will contribute to improving community health outcomes in the Roper Gulf Shire. Yours sincerely,

Michael Berto Chief Executive Officer Roper Gulf Shire Council 3 Sep 2009


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FINANCE REPORTS

ITEM NUMBER 9.1

TITLE 2009-2010 Capital Expenditure Budget

REFERENCE \PERSONAL WORKSPACE FOLDERS\INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES\MARK HAGGER - 114209

AUTHOR Mark Hagger, Director Infrastructure & Technical Services RECOMMENDATION (a) That Council approve the variation to the 2009/2010 estimates to reallocate

$410,000.00 from Roads maintenance to Capital purchases.

BACKGROUND At the time of amalgamation, the Council inherited most of the assets of the six constituent Councils that were merged into the Roper Gulf Shire Council. Included in these assets were a number of motor vehicles and heavy plant and equipment that were in varying states of suitability for the performance of the Council’s tasks. During the past 14 months, assets have been “juggled” between service delivery centres in order to achieve the operational requirements of the Council, however it has been identified that additional resources are required to meet our current needs. As a result of an asset review conducted by my predecessor, Robin Files and Council’s Assets Manager, Ian Clark, a report proposing a 5 year vehicle replacement program was presented to the Council meeting on 17th June 2009 that identified a requirement to spend in excess of $1.9 million during 2009/10 on vehicle replacement. Council resolved to note the report and to explore all options available to Council for the replacement of these assets. At the Council meeting held on 1st July 2009 in Mataranka the Council adopted the budget for the 2009/2010 financial year. During my presentation of that document it was identified that there was no allocation of money towards any capital expenditure (other than for tied purposes) for the year. This resulted from insufficient money being available to fund asset replacements/development as well as delivering Council’s operations. The meeting was advised that I would endeavour to develop a strategy that would enable Council to purchase the equipment that is necessary to carry out the delivery of our services. ISSUES/OPTIONS/SWOT Unfortunately, despite a review of the budget, I have been unable to identify savings within the operational areas that can be redirected towards capital expenditure. While there are several possible avenues that are currently being investigated, there is no guarantee that these will come to fruition thus leaving Council without adequate resources to carry out the required tasks. My short term solution to this shortfall in money available to purchase capital equipment is to utilise the money that comes from the Federal Government for untied roads maintenance to fund the purchase of those vehicles, plant and machinery that are urgently required. Council has received notification that its allocation of funding from this source will be $832,927 for the 2009/2010 financial year. By reallocating $410,000 of this money from roads maintenance to capital expenditure Council will be in a position to purchase three new utilities (two for housing and one for Numbulwar manager) a second-hand utility (Director Infrastructure), one dual cab 5 tonne


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truck (Ngukurr municipal services), one new side tipper (civil works), a second hand forklift (Numbulwar operations) and a 30,000 litre fuel tank (Ngukurr operations). Obviously not all of these purchases can be directly related to roads maintenance; however all of them are necessary for Council to deliver efficient and effective services to our constituents and external organisations. The downside to approving this reallocation is that Council will obviously have less money to spend on roads maintenance this year; however I believe that by upgrading our equipment now we will be able to provide better services (including roads maintenance) over the ensuing years. Internal hire charges can be made against each of the programs that are acquiring some of the assets, which will, over time, recoup the cost of purchasing that asset. These funds can then be assigned to roads maintenance, thus reducing the overall impact on Council’s capacity to maintain its roads network. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS There are no financial considerations that will impact on the Council’s budget other than the reallocation of $410,000 from roads maintenance to capital expenditure.

ATTACHMENTS: There are no attachments for this report.


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FINANCE REPORTS

ITEM NUMBER 9.2

TITLE Financial Reports for August 2009

REFERENCE \CORE SERVICES\GOVERNANCE\FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETINGS\4. 230909 MINUTES AGENDA AND ASSOCIATED PAPERS\REPORTS - 114472

AUTHOR Sarah-Jane Thurston, Manager of Finance RECOMMENDATION (a) That Council accepts the reports for August 2009.

ATTACHMENTS: 1 CFS AUGUST 09.tif 2 PL AUG 09.tif 3 PL AUG 09a.tif 4 PL AUG 09b.tif 5 PL AUG 09chart.tif 6 Balance Sheet AUG 09.tif 7 Council Meeting Expenses 0809.tif

Attachment 1 CFS AUGUST 09.tif

Attachment 1

Attachment 2 PL AUG 09.tif

Attachment 2

Attachment 3 PL AUG 09a.tif

Attachment 3

Attachment 4 PL AUG 09b.tif

Attachment 4

Attachment 5 PL AUG 09chart.tif

Attachment 5

Attachment 6 Balance Sheet AUG 09.tif

Attachment 6

Attachment 7 Council Meeting Expenses 0809.tif

Attachment 7


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GOVERNANCE REPORT

ITEM NUMBER 10.1

TITLE Annual Report

REFERENCE \CORE SERVICES\GOVERNANCE\COUNCIL MEETINGS\2009 - 08 - COUNCIL MEETING - 21 OCTOBER\REPORTS - 111873

AUTHOR Moira McCreesh, Manager, Governance RECOMMENDATION (a) That Council note the information. (b) That Council authorises producing the Annual Report ‘in house’ this year.

BACKGROUND Under the Local Government Act the Roper Gulf Shire is obliged to submit an Annual Report to the Minister no later than 15 November each year. This report covers the work of the Shire during the year ending on the preceding June. The Annual Report must include a copy of the Shire’s audited financial statements and contain an assessment of performance against the objectives set in the Business Plan. The Information Act also has some requirements that we publish details annually about how we handle information and manage records. Other Shire Councils and Municipal Councils use the Annual Report as an opportunity to provide positive information about the Shire’s work to the public. A draft proposed outline of Roper Gulf Shire’s 08/09 Annual Report is attached. ISSUES/OPTIONS/SWOT Once the Annual Report goes to the Minister, we are obliged under the Act to put it on our website and to put an advert in the paper telling people that they can find it on the website or get a copy from our Katherine office. At this stage, Councillors may find that residents approach them with questions. Some organisations go to great lengths to publish an annual report that is glossy and attractive. This increases the cost of the report and doesn’t really add to the information provided to the public. For this first Roper Gulf Shire Annual Report, we are reporting against a Business Plan that we had little input to developing. We may have difficulty providing a thorough assessment against all the objectives of this ‘old’ plan, since we didn’t have all the systems in place to capture information to measure the services we were providing. As such, we may experience some criticism if people choose to be very negative. However, most of the ‘new’ Shires will be in the same boat and the key thing is to meet the deadline for finishing the Annual Report. We have set up a small competition for Roper Gulf Shire staff members to design a front cover for this year’s annual report. It is made clear in the conditions of entry that there is no guarantee that the Council will use any of the entries. Any entries will be presented to Council with the draft Annual Report at the October meeting. We will write the Annual Report to be as positive as is consistent with the truth and the data available. We do not think that spending a lot of money on glossy artwork will improve the report this year. We can produce a good quality report with photos in-house and save the funds for more useful projects. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS Cost of desktop publishing and printing report.

ATTACHMENTS:


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1 Proposed outline of RGS 08-09 Annual Report.doc

Attachment 1

Proposed outline of RGS 08-09 Annual Report.doc

Attachment 1

Proposed outline for Roper Gulf Shire Annual Report 08/09

Message from the Mayor Vision and values Roper Gulf Shire – description, map, stats, Information about Council (ordinary council meetings, elected

members’ photos, elected members’ attendance stats, possibly cost of elected members’ allowances, info about election of mayor and aldermen)

Roper Gulf Business Plan (feedback on Bus Plan objectives)

Message from the CEO RGS departments (photos of CEO and 2 Directors and brief run

down of what’s in each dept. Org charts.) Corporate & Community Services report Infrastructure and Technical Services report Information and privacy statement (to comply with the Information

Act)

Income and expenditure report (simple pie charts) Annual financial statements

The report will be done mostly in narrative style, in plain English and with lots of photos.


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FUNDING AGREEMENTS

ITEM NUMBER 11.1

TITLE Funding Agreements for Signature

REFERENCE \CORE SERVICES\GOVERNANCE\FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETINGS\4. 230909 MINUTES AGENDA AND ASSOCIATED PAPERS\REPORTS - 112050

AUTHOR Sheena Drennan, Grants Officer RECOMMENDATION (a) That Council approve, sign and apply the seal to the following funding

agreements and Service Plans

BACKGROUND a) Funding agreements and service plan from Department of Health and Ageing

1. Indigenous Environment Health Service (Bulman) 09/10 $68,550 gst excl 2. Volatile Substance Abuse Outstation Service (Ngukurr) 09/10 $16,216 gst excl 3. Home and Community Care (HACC) Service (Shire) 09/10 $193,726.50 gst excl 4. Borroloola Regional Youth Development Program 09/10 $187,380 gst excl

b) Dept of Health and Ageing – Funding for 30 permanent part-time positions in Aged

Care $627,000 gst excl

c) Dept Local Govt and Housing - Letter of Offer – 2009/10 Housing Management and Maintenance Program (Outstations) $50,000 Housing Management, $176,556 Maintenance Grant

ISSUES/OPTIONS/SWOT FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS



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FUNDING AGREEMENTS

ITEM NUMBER 11.2

TITLE Property and Tenancy Management July to Sept 09 Community Infrastructure Variation

REFERENCE \CORE SERVICES\GOVERNANCE\FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETINGS\4. 230909 MINUTES AGENDA AND ASSOCIATED PAPERS\REPORTS\FUNDING REPORTS - 112311

AUTHOR Sheena Drennan, Grants Officer RECOMMENDATION (a) That Council approve, sign and apply the seal to the following Funding

Agreement and Letter of Offer

BACKGROUND 1. Dept of Local Government and Housing Letter of Offer Special Purpose Grant for the

provision of tenancy management services to prescribed communities - $283,730 for Tenancy Management and $952,801 for Property Management July – Sept 2009-09-08.

2. FaHCSIA Variation to Funding Agreement adjusting end date from 30/6/08 to 30/6/09.

ISSUES/OPTIONS/SWOT Nil FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS Nil


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